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# A tattoo is for life
- URL: https://werd.io/a-tattoo-is-for-life/
- Published: 2022-04-15T17:06:01.000Z
- Updated: 2022-04-15T17:06:01.000Z
- Author: Ben Werdmuller
- Tags: #Import 2025-06-13 09:23

As part of the ongoing mid-life crisis that brought me [electric blue hair](https://werd.io/2021/ngl-having-bright-blue-hair-is-making-me-really-happy) and a new car, I’ve been thinking about getting a tattoo. Of course, if I’m going to mark my body, I’d like it to be the most meaningful (and potentially the nerdiest) image possible.

I have parameters. Given my family history, and the history of the twentieth century, I’d rather not use any kind of barcode, QR code (can you imagine?), or identifier. I also don’t really want words or any kind of quote. I thought about a waveform of my mother’s voice, but honestly, I don’t think she would have approved, and it feels a little like the 21st century equivalent of drawing “mom” in a heart. I qualify for a [semicolon tattoo](https://projectsemicolon.com/), but I don’t want one of those either.

Maybe an *and* gate? A symbol representing Earthseed’s *God is change*? A TARDIS? It all feels very stereotypical.

Maybe I’m just too fickle. It seems so *permanent*, and the me I am now is not the same person I’ll be in two, five, twenty years. On the other hand, I like the idea of marking life like rings in a tree.

Do you have a tattoo? Is it meaningful to you? What did you get?